-
1 of 10
-
2 of 10
-
3 of 10
-
4 of 10
-
5 of 10
-
6 of 10
-
7 of 10
-
8 of 10
-
9 of 10
-
10 of 10
‘Sicko:’ this might hurt a little
Archive
Comments
Story
It actually hurts quite a bit.
Mastermind journalist and documentary creator Michael Moore hits the big screen again, this time with a compelling statement against the current healthcare and medical system the United States of America employs.
Anti-Michael Moore activists will not find any firepower against him this time around as he masters the art of presentation and leaves no loopholes in his argument against American healthcare.
The film opens by telling the horrid stories of Americans who have lost limbs or other extremities and others who lost their life, all due to the inability to pay for treatment in the United States.
One man featured near the beginning of the film, while working with an electric saw, chopped off the tips of his ring and middle
fingers on one hand. Without healthcare, the hospital gave him the choice of putting the ring finger tip back on for $12,000 or the middle finger tip for $60,000.
The “hopeless romantic,” as Moore wittily puts it, chose to put the ring finger tip back on and live without a middle finger tip.
Further into the first half hour of the film, Moore informs viewers that this documentary will not be about Americans without any sort of healthcare. The crafty advocate for change decides to tell viewers about Americans with healthcare coverage.
By featuring Americans with healthcare, Moore shows that just because an American has a healthcare plan doesn’t mean their treatment will be covered.
Healthcare companies use phrases such as “pre-existing condition” to avoid payment of large sums. If a healthcare recipient develops a certain type of illness that becomes expensive for a healthcare company, the
company sends out so-called “hitmen” to dig through the past of the patient in an attempt to blame the recent illness on an article of their health history from before the time they became insured.
Moore remains off camera for most of the interviews in the first half of the film, compelling even the Anti-Moore to somewhat agree with his argument.
Much of the jargon the ex-healthcare company employees use in interviews makes no sense to both the viewer and Moore.
The investigatory journalist team then heads to Canada with a struggling Detroit mom, where the government gives completely free healthcare to all citizens of Canada.
The financially-challenged mother uses a Canadian friend’s address to acquire free Canadian healthcare for herself and her daughter.
American politicians advocate that a socialist healthcare system will eventually lead to communism and that the Canadians wait months for the simplest procedures.
Moore clears that filibuster fib right up when he takes the crew into Canadian family doctors’ offices and hospitals to interview the patients in the waiting rooms.
Sorry, Washington. None of the Canadians have a major problem with their system. The current American political leadership caught in a white lie once again.
Wait. There’s more. Moore shows how many of the politicians are paid to put their stamp on pro-healthcare company and drug-producing company bills. They even pay off George W. Bush.
Moore and the crew hop the pond and hit up Britain’s hospitals next. They find that although our matriarch’s citizens pay for some of their prescriptions, the set flat rate for any prescription, no matter what it may be, is only about 10 American dollars. The hospital stays are completely free.
Moore goes searching through the hospital to try and find a loophole that makes people pay for their healthcare in Britain. He finds a cashier’s desk. The only difference with this cashier is that it pays the hospital patients for any travel expenses instead of collecting from them for treatment.
Before he heads back to the states, Moore stops in France to a find a healthcare setup very similar to Britain. Much to his (and most likely any other American’s) surprise, he also discovers that real doctors, not paramedics, that work for private companies, make house calls all day and all night and don’t charge patients a penny.
Moore and a motley crew of sick people then head for Guantanamo Bay to try and receive the free top-notch treatment the terrorists held there receive. Upon denial of entrance, the crew heads to a Cuban hospital. The group of sick Americans receives free treatment with quality equivalent to American doctors if not better.
Doctors have no reason to be afraid of the socialist medical system either, Moore points out as he interviews a government-paid doctor in Europe living in at least a million dollar home with two cars completely paid off and money in the bank.
What’s there to fear, America? The only losers here are the billion-dollar American Healthcare companies that don’t even give back half of their earnings.
Michael Moore’s film “Sicko” is playing at The Flicks downtown Boise, as well as at the Majestic Cinemas in Meridian.
Matthew Boyle
Culture Writer
